Picture Books about Fossils

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Is your motto “So many books, so little time?” Is every shelf, nook, and cupboard in your house filled with books? Is your library card the first one on your ring? If so, you’ll love Book Blitz Month! During this month book lovers are given the green light to read, read, read as many books as possible! Or if there’s a tome you’ve always wanted to tackle, crack the cover and let yourself become immersed in someone else’s story. For kids, Book Blitz Month can be particularly exciting. Sit down with your child or students and make a stack of books they’d like to read. Find time every day to read one, two, or a few of the books in the pile. Seeing the stack shrink gives kids a sense of accomplishment, and they might even want to build it up again! Mix reading with fun activities to encourage a new generation of avid readers!

Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones

Written by Sara Levine | Written by T.S Spookytooth

You like dinosaurs, right? I mean, who doesn’t? Of course, I’m not talking about those folks with outdated ideas or that old clunker in the garage that you just can’t part with. I’m talking about the big, huge carnivores and herbivores that roamed the earth millions of years ago—parasaurolophus, diplodocus, apatosaurus, brontosaurus, t-rex, and all the rest that have fun-to-say names. You might think that having those guys and gals around now would be fun, but how would you feel if you, yourself, were a dinosaur?

Does that thought make you laugh or maybe shudder a little? Well, if you were a dinosaur “you might be pretty funny looking. Or even quite scary.” If you think it’s totally impossible that you could be a dinosaur, you might want to reconsider: Sure, “on the outside, people and dinosaurs look very, very different. But on the inside, we’re actually very similar.” Compare some dinosaur fossils and a human skeleton, and you’ll see!

Dinos have skulls, and—yep—you’ve got one too! Vertebrae and ribs? Dinosaur, check; you, check. How about scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpals, and phalanges? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes! And that’s just in our arms and in a dinosaur’s front legs! We both have “hip bones and leg bones and toe bones” too! So why aren’t we dinosaurs? And why aren’t dinosaurs people?

That’s because “dinosaurs had some extra bones in their bodies that made them different from us.” Would you like to try some of these on for size? Imagine having a bony ridge jutting out from the back of your head and two big horns and one littler one jutting out the front? “What kind of dinosaur would you look like then?” You got it! A triceratops! Nowadays all those enhancements would just make it hard to wear a hoodie, but back in the Cretaceous Period? “Scientists think this dinosaur used its horns for fighting.” The frill in the back “probably helped protect a triceratops’s neck and shoulders.”

This is fun! Let’s try another one…How about if you had “rows of chunky triangle-shaped bones along your back and…an enormous ball of bone stuck onto the end of your vertebrae?” Well, you wouldn’t be a world-class runner and dunking a basketball would probably be out of the question. Why? Because you’d be an ankylosaurus, and the “bones on the end of this dinosaur’s tail weighed more than 60 pounds (27 kg).” You would be a pretty awesome competitor, though—even for the likes of T-rex!

What if those bones along your back ranged from small to huge and ran from your head to the end of your long tail, which, by the way, ended with a few knife-sharp spikes? Then, you’d be a stegosaurus! And what would you do with those plates on your back? Good question! Maybe they’d gather sun like solar panels and keep you warm, or maybe you’d just flash them around to impress your friends.

Is having more of something ever a bad thing? You might think so if you looked like our next dinosaur. “What if we added lots and lots of extra vertebrae in your neck? And what if your vertebrae didn’t stop at your rear end but kept going and going and going? What kind of dinosaur would you be then?” Here’s a hint: a picture of you wouldn’t even fit on a regular two-page spread in a book! That’s right—it takes four pages to fit you in because you would be a diplodocus! You’d be so long it would take three school buses to get you to class!

From large we move onto small—small arms that is and only two fingers on each hand instead of five. Any ideas? What if I added that “you’d also have dagger-like teeth lining your jaw?” Yeah, you know it! A tyrannosaurus rex! And what did t-rex use those small arms for? “Scientists think it might have used its puny front legs to help it get up after lying down for a rest.”

Okay, so those are just some of the dinosaurs that lived on land. But there were other ones in the sea and in the air. Imagine if your nostrils were on the top of your head, your skull was long and pointy, and your arms and legs were more like paddles. What would you be good at? Exactly! You’d be an excellent swimmer—which would make you an ichthyosaur!

Let’s do one more! What would you be able to do if your “pinky bones grew really, really long and a membrane of skin was attached to these bones?” Sure! You’d be able to fly, and as a pterosaur, you’d be the first animal with bones to accomplish that amazing feat.

Now, you may have seen dinosaur skeletons in a museum and felt a little sad that you’d never see these creatures in person, but did you know that “you may have even seen one already today? What kind of animal would you be if you were a dinosaur living on Earth right now?” You’ll want to look skyward for this answer. “Scientists now consider birds to be dinosaurs,” and that they “use their first three fingers” to fly. “So if you want to find a dinosaur…Go outside and look around. You’re very likely to see one!”

Backmatter includes a discussion on birds as dinosaurs, a list of dinosaur groups, a glossary, a pronunciation guide, and resources for further study.

Sara Levine draws on kids’ love of dinosaurs and their growing knowledge of human anatomy to create this mashup of science and laughs that teaches as much as it delights. By revealing on the first two pages that kid and dinosaur skeletons have many of the same kinds of bones, Levine immediately taps that “Wow!” factor that keeps children engaged in a topic.

Add on the funny “what if…” descriptions and illustrations of children sporting bony projections, long tails and necks, noses and fingers, and you’ve got a science book that readers can’t put down. Along the way, budding archaeologists and paleontologists learn facts about each dinosaur and the purpose of their particular anatomical feature or features. Levine’s conversational tone directly addresses her readers and makes learning as fun as going on a field trip with your best friend—how cool is that?

Readers needn’t worry if they can’t quite imagine having horns sticking out of their head, being eighty feet long, or having pinky fingers long enough to roast marshmallows on. T.S Spookytooth has it all covered. As the diverse group of kids visit a museum of natural history, they suddenly find themselves sporting prehistoric traits that confound, surprise, and—as it is with kids—amuse them. Each dinosaur’s skeleton (as well as a human skeleton) is drawn clearly and with realistically.

The double gate-fold illustration of the diplodocus is a show-stopper, and you can bet that children will want to count the vertebrae! Spookytooth’s color palette and imagery beautifully represents the interior of a museum and shows the dinosaurs off to best advantage. The final two-page spread of the children interacting with today’s dinosaurs is whimsical, will inspire kids to look at birds differently, and holds a question—is there an imposter among them?

Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Skeletons would be a favorite addition to home bookshelves as well as classroom, school, and public libraries to spur enthusiastic learning.

Ages 5 – 10

Millbrook Press, 2018 | ISBN 978-1467794893

Discover more about Sara Levine and her books on her website

Learn more about T.S Spookytooth and his illustration work on his website

Book Blitz Month Activity

Hatch Your Own Dinosaur Eggs

Think there are no more dinosaur eggs? Think again! You can make your own with this easy craft that will have you hatching some t-rex-size fun! All you need are a few simple ingredients!

Supplies

Old clothes or apron

Large box of baking soda (makes between 6 and 8 eggs)

Food coloring

Water

Plastic dinosaur toys

Bowl

Fork

Spoon

Wax paper

Baking sheet

Foil

Vinegar

Spray bottle (optional)

Plastic or metal spoon, stick, popsicle stick, or other implement to chisel with

Spray the egg with vinegar to hatch your dinosaur

Directions

Wear old clothes or an apron

Cover work surface with wax paper, parchment paper, newspaper, or other protection. Food coloring can stain some surfaces

Pour baking soda into the bowl

Add drops of food coloring in whatever color you’d like your eggs to be. The eggs will darken when baked.

Mix in the food coloring with the fork. You may want to use your hands, too

When the baking soda is the color you want it, begin adding water a little at a time

Add water until the baking soda holds together when you squeeze it in your hand

When the baking soda is the right consistency, spoon some out into your hand or onto wax paper

Push one plastic dinosaur into the middle

Cover the dinosaur with more of the baking soda mixture

Carefully form it into an egg shape

Repeat with other dinosaurs

Chisel the egg open to hatch your dinosaur

To Bake the Eggs

Set the oven or toaster oven to 200 to 225 degrees

Set the eggs on a baking sheet lined with foil

Bake the eggs for 15 minutes, check

Turn the eggs over and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes

Remove from oven and let cool

To Hatch the Eggs

Eggs can be hatched by chiseling them with a spoon, stick, or other implement

Eggs can also be hatched by spraying or sprinkling them with vinegar

You can find Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones at these booksellers